Thursday, September 20, 2007

Second piece of my capsule wardrobe

The sleeve without cap ease... It looks pretty good and rounded to me and I can tell you it feels perfectly comfortable. I have plenty of moving room.

I've added some polkadotted binding...

As I already said in this post, I used techniques described in Marcy Tilton in her "Inside an Armani jacket" article (the link is in the post mentioned above). Below is a picture of the floating chest piece (attached to the roll line with a bias strip, catchstitched). I cut my own sleeve head, copying the sleeve pattern between the two notches. The sleeve head is made out of polar fleece (very good for that) and is about 2 inches wide.

For bagging the lining, I've used this tutorial on Kathleen Fasanella's site and obtained a perfect, clean finish without any handstitching. This method is great and I'll keep using it.

Also, for the sleeves, I used Bagging tutorial #1 and Bagging tutorial #2 also by Kathleen Fasanella. Very useful, the sleeve hem folds by itself and is cushioned, the tip about tacking is great. I'm not sure what wigan is, but I've used this canvas (also used for the floating chest piece), cut on the bias:

I also did my best to match the check on the houndstooth at the seams and at the sleeve (having no cap ease helps). It was very difficult, because this houndstooth (from TimmelFabrics, as my SWAP second prize) is a mix of silk and flax and it distorts very easily.

Laura ~ the jacket is fabulous! Black & white herringbone must be in the air!!!! I loved that piece on Julie's site but already had the Fabric mart piece. Thanks for sharing the links to all of the tutorials!

Fabulous is a word seen by the dozens here describing your jacket. A truly couture piece, by your very own hands! Black and white is in the air, I love it again. And exquisite shoes to showcase the piece. I am in awe. Loved the tutorial links, I need them in my newly revitalized sewing habit!

Isn't the "zero sleeve cap ease" concept a liberating experience? {smile} Many years ago during my Tailor's Apprenticeship, my mentor was horrified one day to discover me adding ease to a suit jacket sleeve-cap! After several minutes of him berating me in 1/2 English 1/2 Italian, I never made that mistake again!

Hi, Pam and welcome to my blog (I'm very happy to be in your webring!)It is a liberating experience indeed, after so many years of perfecting my easing the cap (which was always a pain...) it's great to discover that if the pattern is right, you don't need that cap ease!Wish I found this out earlier...

LAURA.- You really was this fantastic jacket, and the piping is like the Dior jacket, which coincidence!. Moreover is great with the cloth "chicken foot." Congratulations. A hug and greetings Laura. Paco.